Huge MTV party crowd at Santa Monica hangar turned away by police

SANTA MONICA - Thousands of people showed up for a DJ's performance at a Santa Monica Airport hangar where a maximum of 1,500 had been expected, prompting officers to disperse would-be attendees who had lined up with tickets in hand, police said.

The Tuesday night performance by Flux Pavilion, an English dubstep producer and DJ, was to have been attended by between 400 and 1,500 people, according to the permit secured by MTV, said Santa Monica police Officer Shaun Dove, who reported that the permit application described the show as an ``executive event.''

By the time the doors opened around 8:30 p.m., a line of 2,000 to 3,000 young adults and teenagers, all with printed free tickets, had formed, stretching onto 31st Street, he said.

Commanders decided to disperse the crowd and called in assistance from the Beverly Hills and Culver City police departments, as well as an air unit from the Los Angeles Police Department, Dove said.

Once the mutual aid was in place, dispersal orders were issued shortly before 11 p.m. from patrol cars and the air unit, and the crowd largely complied, he said.

Two people, a male and a female, were arrested on suspicion of public intoxication and failure to disperse, Dove said.

Less than 800 people made it inside to the see the show, he said, adding that the decision to disperse the crowd outside was based on the fact that there were more people lined up than the permitted capacity, with more arriving ``by the minute,'' giving rise to a ``rave-type atmosphere'' and causing public safety concerns among police commanders.

The event was allowed to conclude, ending just before midnight without further incident, Dove said.

Flux Pavilion himself sent out expletive-laced dispatches on Twitter reporting on the disturbance as it happened.